Missing Boat Has Two Young Kids Aboard; Follows String of Alameda Boat-Motor Thefts

According to the latest news from Alameda Journal staff writer Peter Hegarty and colleague Eric Kurhi, police believe “a 43-year-old man took his two young children from their mother’s South San Francisco home on Tuesday and fled to an Alameda yacht harbor, where he ditched a rental car and sailed away in a stolen 40-foot boat.”

South San Francisco police said Christopher Maffei took 3-year-old Brooklynn and 2-year-old Devin away from the docks at Club Nautique harbor on Ballena Boulevard. He had been to the harbor two weeks before with the kids to ask about purchasing a boat.

The stolen sailboat is a white Hunter 41 with blue canvas, christened “Unleashed.” It has a hull number of HUN41366C707. Despite an extensive air and ground search Thursday, Maffei and children are still missing.

This development follows police receiving 16 reports of motors stolen from boats at local marinas over about the past two months, according to Alameda police Lt. Ted Horlbeck. One theft was reported Aug. 26 at the Alameda Marina on Clement Avenue.

Investigators arrested Desmond Treymayne Hutson, 38, on Aug. 28 in connection with the case at his home in Oakland.

South San Francisco police ask anyone with information about the sailboat or Maffei’s whereabouts contact them at 650-877-8900. Alameda police ask anyone with information about the “Unleashed,” the missing sailboat, or the boat motor thefts to call 510-337-8340.